Texas Lawmakers To Feds: Leave Us Alone

Posted by Leigh Evans on January 06, 2015

Ft. Worth Star Telegram - State lawmakers hope to send a clear message to the federal government this year: Don’t mess with Texas. Already, more than a dozen bills have been filed to push back against what their sponsors say is a continued federal overreach.

Touching on issues from guns to the 10th Amendment, state lawmakers are calling on the federal government to do everything from repaying the costs Texas incurred for dealing with people illegally in the country to abolishing the income tax system.

...state Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, filed Senate Concurrent Resolution 1 to claim sovereignty for Texas under the 10th Amendment, which says that powers belong to the states unless the Constitution specifically grants them to the federal government.

“It has always been very important to me, not only to make a statement to Congress, but to keep the issue of affirming our state rights before the Legislature and the public,” said Creighton, who has unsuccessfully proposed this measure in other sessions. “It’s difficult when the feds act outside their constitutional authority.”